Monday, July 30, 2012

Atlas :: her first year // paris, tx child and family portrait photographer

For this child I prayed,

and the LORD has granted me

what I asked of Him.

|| 1 Sam. 1:27 ||

We're gonna start this post by hitting rewind for a minute. Old pictures can reveal great secrets that could never be understood before...remember, life can only be understood backwards but it can only be lived forwards. If this were not true our parent's old pictures filled with wild hairdos and questionable fashion choices would not be around to make us laugh. As a photographer I have found that looking back on my own pictures can be a really sobering {insert: hysterical at times} journey as I see the twists and turns I took in editing and composition and the overall style of my past images; contrasting them with the things that I am currently making and loving. I took every picture in this post but some of them look like they came from a totally different artist. Its because in just this short amount of time Iand my work have both changed drastically without me even realizing it. And while this post is going to be a quick narrative of how my photography has grown, mine is not the only tale represented. No, in fact, this post is going to tell a very different story altogether. A story of hope, and grace, and God's goodness. Of answered prayer, tears of fear and tears of joy, laughter, triumphs, undying love, and a baby girl who we never thought would be. Walks down memory lane can be pretty fun, right? And sometimes they can even take our breath away.

As I told you in this post, Kenneth and Mary saw God answer one prayer after another. Each impossible dream was unfolding into a rich, beautiful reality. Though they faced tall, dark, grueling mountains, God brought them through over and over.

July 15, 2011 their baby girl was born. She weighed 2lb. and 12 oz. They named her Atlas Elizabeth Musick. The first time I saw her I was simply at a loss for words. Her tiny body was such a huge thing to grasp. Underneath all those tubes, and masks, monitors and tape there lay a baby, a precious baby girl made in the image of God. I was blown away. Its hard to believe her first days were not spent settling into her new baby bed in her freshly painted nursery in her own home...but instead the NICU was her home for a very long time.

It would be incredibly difficult for me to even begin to express what a joy Atlas has been this past year. Now its kinda hard to imagine the Musick family without her. She pretty much completes them. :)

See?! So much joy!!

And I also mentioned the attitude. Don't say you weren't fore-warned. ;)

Kenneth loves his girls. :D

Flashback. :D

Fruit inspector. ;)

The baby peaches have been given...

an A+. :)

So serious. ;)

Even when everyone else is cracking up, she's in her own little world of Chillville. ;)

Wow. I related so much with everything you said about growing as a photographer, finding your style, and becoming a stronger artist. But the strongest part of this post was the incredible photos themselves. They told two stories, one of the growth of an artist, one of the growth of a little girl. The photographs are MAGICAL and you are so incredibly talented. I loved this post! Thank you for sharing.